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Thread: MLB making changes to the baseball,

  1. #16
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by Bourgeois Zee View Post
    How so?
    By tweaking the ball to reduce flight and exit velocity.

    If the ball doesn't come off the bat as hard and you can't hit it over the fence as often, you're increasing the chances of balls put into play being eaten up by the shift.


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  3. #17
    Member Ron Madden's Avatar
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Deadening the Baseball? MLB's Done It Before
    The sport has a long and twisted relationship when it comes to manipulating the baseball.
    On Jan. 10, 1938, four ballplayers met to take batting practice on a freezing day in Baltimore. They were Jimmie Foxx, the three-time home-run leader; Chuck Klein, the slugging right fielder; Bill Cissell, the light-hitting veteran; and Charlie Keller, the minor league batting champ. It was a rather strange group—all played for different teams, with different styles, and, again, it was the middle of January. But MLB had wanted to see an assortment of hitters, and they needed to take care of this before spring training, no matter how cold it was. They were there to test out a new baseball—a deadened ball, with raised seams and loosened twine, designed to take some of the offense out of the game.
    Emma Baccellieri https://www.si.com/2021/02/09/baseball-change
    Last edited by Ron Madden; 02-10-2021 at 12:17 AM.

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  5. #18
    Member Ron Madden's Avatar
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    MLB is messing with the baseball again — this time to bring homers down
    A mountain of evidence — both plain and scientific — led to the conclusion that Major League Baseball was using juice-up baseballs during the 2019 season. Or at least until the playoffs, when they maybe changed the ball again.

    Baseball, of course, denied it — or at least denied doing anything intentional about the ball it uses, over which it has total control. "[MLB] has done nothing, given no direction for an alteration in the baseball … There is no desire on part of ownership to increase the number of home runs in the game," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in July 2019.

    So it's interesting that now, two years later, a memo seems to suggest that MLB is doing exactly what Manfred said it didn't do two years ago: intentionally altering the baseball, albeit slightly, in order to impact outcomes.
    https://www.startribune.com

  6. #19
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by Coopdaddy67 View Post
    By tweaking the ball to reduce flight and exit velocity.

    If the ball doesn't come off the bat as hard and you can't hit it over the fence as often, you're increasing the chances of balls put into play being eaten up by the shift.
    HR are hit in the air to the OF.

    They are the complete opposite of ground balls to the IF-- which is the only place (as far as I know) where teams employ the radical shifts so many complain about.

    A lighter ball should have next to no impact on shifts, one way or another.

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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,


  9. #21
    Goober GAC's Avatar
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by Old school 1983 View Post
    Home runs are no longer exciting when they are the norm. When they are more scarce, they are more exciting.
    You nailed it IMO. The game is constantly changing. But anymore I feel they are instituting these changes to simply manipulate results they desire. Now it's all about LA and hitting HRs. And also, home runs (power hitter) translates into mucho dollars.

    Your batting order use to be constructed with each player basically having a designed (desired) role. And your 3-4-5 guys were your power "RBI" guys. I've always enjoyed watching the pure hitter at the plate, a "battle" between pitcher and hitter, and who is going to come out on top?

    I don't really care much for the way they are teaching hitting nowadays.
    Last edited by GAC; 02-15-2021 at 05:02 AM.
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

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  11. #22
    Reds fan trapped in CHI Jim's Avatar
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by Old school 1983 View Post
    Home runs are no longer exciting when they are the norm. When they are more scarce, they are more exciting.
    Agreed! It's sad when a player's home run total and RBI total are almost identical.

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  13. #23
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by GAC View Post
    You nailed it IMO. The game is constantly changing. But anymore I feel they are instituting these changes to simply manipulate results they desire. Now it's all about LA and hitting HRs. And also, home runs (power hitter) translates into mucho dollars.

    Your batting order use to be constructed with each player basically having a designed (desired) role. And your 3-4-5 guys were your power "RBI" guys. I've always enjoyed watching the pure hitter at the plate, a "battle" between pitcher and hitter, and who is going to come out on top?

    I don't really care much for the way they are teaching hitting nowadays.
    I miss contact hitters.

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  15. #24
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by GAC View Post
    You nailed it IMO. The game is constantly changing. But anymore I feel they are instituting these changes to simply manipulate results they desire. Now it's all about LA and hitting HRs. And also, home runs (power hitter) translates into mucho dollars.

    Your batting order use to be constructed with each player basically having a designed (desired) role. And your 3-4-5 guys were your power "RBI" guys. I've always enjoyed watching the pure hitter at the plate, a "battle" between pitcher and hitter, and who is going to come out on top?

    I don't really care much for the way they are teaching hitting nowadays.
    Technically, launch angle isn't about hitting HRs. Ted Williams preached launch angle and he hit lots of non-HRs too. It's designed to increase your line drives and you can use launch angle when you go the other way or up the middle. What it's designed to do is avoid weenie groundouts. With a less lively ball, good launch angle hitters should be able to spray their hits around and shoot more balls into the gaps.
    I'm not a system player. I am a system.

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  17. #25
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by M2 View Post
    Technically, launch angle isn't about hitting HRs. Ted Williams preached launch angle and he hit lots of non-HRs too. It's designed to increase your line drives and you can use launch angle when you go the other way or up the middle. What it's designed to do is avoid weenie groundouts. With a less lively ball, good launch angle hitters should be able to spray their hits around and shoot more balls into the gaps.
    You’d hope. But a lot of guys seems to take it as swing from
    Your heels trying to yank it out to the pull side.

  18. #26
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    I fully expect the Reds to be able to adjust to this change by spring training 2023.

  19. #27
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    My theory: Home runs are as interesting as ever, but what happens in between when all you’re trying to do is hit homers is not as interesting.

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  21. #28
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by Bourgeois Zee View Post
    HR are hit in the air to the OF.

    They are the complete opposite of ground balls to the IF-- which is the only place (as far as I know) where teams employ the radical shifts so many complain about.

    A lighter ball should have next to no impact on shifts, one way or another.
    As I said, anything that potentially reduces flight and exit velocity will enhance the shift. If you decrease the EV of ground balls/line drives, you're increasing the likelihood of the defense making an out. If the ball has slightly less carry, you're turning a chunk of deep fly balls and liners into outs that previously made the stands by a few rows. Thus, you're reducing the percentages of the hitter beating the shift over the top.

    The shift is becoming more and more exaggerated over time. Tons of teams are involving their CF/RF in the shift, including playing them deeper and/or utilizing the middle CF/RFer.

    Minor tweaks to the ball can have a significant impact and you really won't know how it'll turn out until the season starts.

  22. #29
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    Quote Originally Posted by M2 View Post
    Technically, launch angle isn't about hitting HRs. Ted Williams preached launch angle and he hit lots of non-HRs too. It's designed to increase your line drives and you can use launch angle when you go the other way or up the middle. What it's designed to do is avoid weenie groundouts. With a less lively ball, good launch angle hitters should be able to spray their hits around and shoot more balls into the gaps.
    I hope you're right my friend. I certainly don't disagree with your reasoning on the purpose of teaching LA; but, IMO, I think many are looking at it as a way to hit more HRs.
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

  23. #30
    Goober GAC's Avatar
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    Re: MLB making changes to the baseball,

    To those that think the game has become "boring", maybe stagnated, and I'm one of them, what, in your opinion, led the game to this point?

    As much as I see the significance, and positive aspects, of analytics to the evolution of the game, can one also say it has led to a negative impact when it comes to the fan's "involvement" and entertainment level? In other words, yes, analytics has improved the game as far as the end result, eliminated behaviors that are seen as "non-productive", while placing the emphasis on those that are. But in the process, has all the strategy, game-time decision-making by managers straining at a gnat, made watching boring to many?
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

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